There is a connection between Sunday's massacre of 24 Pandits in Nadimarg village near Shopian and the murder of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Abdul Majid Dar, according to the army.

In all probability, terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba or the Jaish-e-Mohammed, who are mostly from Pakistan, carried out the two attacks, it says.

On Monday morning, the army intercepted a conversation between a local Hizb commander and one of his comrades where he was heard condemning the attack on the Pandits.

"There are other indicators to prove that the Hizb may not be involved," says an army officer.

According to him, those who killed the Pandits "were not speaking Kashmiri, but a language that the villagers didn't properly recognise".

According to preliminary investigations by the army, primarily based on interviews of the villagers and some radio intercepts, the massacre seems to have been carried out at the behest of the Inter-Services Intelligence.

Abdul Majid Dar was killed because he tried to pursue the path of peace, the officer says. The terrorists, by murdering him, have sent a message to the Mufti Mohammed Sayeed government and other peaceniks who are gaining support in the Kashmir valley.